


Scars That I Love

by lavvui



Series: The Heart & the Soul [1]
Category: The Wrath and the Dawn Series - Renée Ahdieh
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Feelings, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:28:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29033175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavvui/pseuds/lavvui
Summary: "But that’s the thing about scars, you can’t have one without the other.”Shahrzad and Khalid share their feelings about each other's scars.
Relationships: Shahrzad al-Khayzuran/Khalid Ibn al-Rashid
Series: The Heart & the Soul [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141148
Kudos: 8





	Scars That I Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Just a short fluff about one of my favorite ships. I hope you enjoy!

Shahrzad hummed happily as she felt the fingers of her husband playing with her dark locks. It had been a long day, both of them busy with their own individual projects for Rey. They had fallen into this routine before they realized it, and the only time they seemingly had time for one another was during the nighttime. Sometimes she would settle in Khalid’s chambers, other times he would come to her. It didn’t matter where they were, as long as they were together when the day cloaked itself in the darkness of the night.

Now, they laid happily together in Shahrzad’s bed, a mountain of cushions under them, listening to each other’s soothing breathing. Shahrzad rested on her side, her bare back against Khalid’s bare chest, his arm lazily draped over her stomach, a few strands of her black hair on his fingers while his chin rested on top of her head. She grinned to herself at the thought of how they ended up like this, exhausted on her bed, no clothes in sight, with their legs in an interlocked mess. They hadn’t even bothered dressing after the fact, but Shahrzad couldn’t complain. She loved the feel of Khalid’s skin against hers.

“I know you are smiling.” she heard him nearly whisper, his voice laced with sleep. She turned around to her other side, now facing Khalid. His eyes were closed until they opened once she was done turning, the corner of his lips slightly up. He greeted her sight with longing eyes as if he could never have enough of her. Perhaps he couldn’t. He let himself be greedy with this, with her. 

Shahrzad looked up at her sleepy husband, her own smile warming her face, then she brought her hand to rest against his cheek. As she let her thumb stroke the white scar that had marked him, Khalid’s eyes fluttered shut. He exhaled slowly, then brought his own hand to rest on top of hers. She stilled her thumb, hesitating.

“Does it hurt? Do you want me to stop?” she asked carefully, her voice soft and quiet. Khalid took a moment before opening his eyes again, letting the tiger eyes she loved so much settle on her face.

“Sometimes, it sends a shiver down my spine. When it’s touched.” he began slowly, letting his own thumb run lazy circles on against her knuckles. “But no, you don’t need to stop.”

Shahrzad did anyway, only to bring her hand to rest on top of his other scar on his chest. Where his heart lied. She studied the scar with conflicted feelings, and he watched her when she carefully leaned in and set a gentle kiss on the white line. A kiss so soft, Khalid was almost fooled to believe it rid the mark from his skin. 

“Seeing these, these scars on you...I feel so many things,” she spoke quietly, almost hesitantly. Khalid let his arms draw her closer, pulling her flush against him. Her heart was next to his, her head hidden under his chin. He could feel her slight nervousness on her skin, on her every heartbeat. He wanted to soothe them all away with each stroke of his hand against her back.

“Will you tell me how you feel?” he asked her, not demanding anything from her. He might be a king to his country, but there was nothing to demand of Shahrzad, ever. She exhaled slowly, letting the tips of her fingers tap against his strong shoulder.

“When I see those scars, I think of baba. I think of his sacrifice, and how he must’ve felt in his final moments, those moments when I couldn’t reach him.” she started, mumbling against his skin. But Khalid heard every word and tightened his hold on her. “I think of how I lost you, even if it was for a few long minutes, I had lost you and I didn’t know what to do. I lost myself too. Then I think of the happiness of getting you back from wherever you had gone to, the sudden grief of losing baba, the conflicted fight of emotions in my head about losing my father and gaining you in the same instant.” she looped her arm under his to hug him, seeking comfort and strength she knew she could always trust Khalid to lend her whenever she needed them. Khalid kissed the top of her head but didn’t say a word, letting her continue.

“It’s all so...confusing. Your scars give me hope and strength, they remind me of happiness and sadness, of relief and grief. But that’s the thing about scars, you can’t have one without the other.” Her own hand dropped to her stomach, the skin there scarred with burn marks. Marks that told a story of a struggle to fight against something that seemed impossible, of finding hope within another person, of finding one’s own strength. 

Khalid let Shahrzad go to lift himself up. She turned to lay on her back as he hovered above her, his gaze fixed on the tainted skin of her stomach. He brought his hand to rest on it, carefully and softly. He leaned down to kiss the skin once. It was his turn.

“When I see these burns, I feel guilt for what you went through to reach me, to fight with me, for me. I feel shame, for had it not been for my mistakes, you would’ve never suffered so.” he began quietly, almost as if he was speaking to himself. Shahrzad raised her hand to let her fingers run through his hair, wanting to tell him that he shouldn’t feel such shame, such guilt, but she trusted that Khalid already knew that. So she waited for him to continue. “But I also feel pride, for you became stronger. I feel relief, that you found your way back to me. When I see your burns, the guilt almost eats me, but it’s then replaced by my love for you, and my respect for your strength, and the knowledge that this is behind us. That’s the thing abt scars,” he leaned in with a soft smile on his lips, the same smile reflected in his eyes, and kissed the tip of her nose. Shahrzad couldn’t help but return that smile that he wore so beautifully. “...You can’t have one without the other.”

Shahrzad peered at the man above her, her husband, her equal in every sense of the word. There were days when she hated seeing his scars, they reminded her of things she wished she didn’t have to remember. But they also reminded her of their battle, of how they had won, and how everything that happened brought them to where they are now. His scars held the past and the future, and because of that, she loved his scars. And hers. They held their story in them.

“I love you,” she whispered when she brought her hands to the sides of his face. His amber eyes flashed with longing and peace before he came down and took her lips in his. The kiss was slow, almost still, a kiss that spoke of commitment and respect, of complete trust and unconditional love. They painted a colorful picture of all of their feelings with that one kiss. When they broke free, Khalid sighed and rested his forehead against hers as she closed her eyes, feeling completely and utterly home.

“I belong with you for a thousand years, _joonam_.”


End file.
